Huh...so this is a thing.
I looked around me to see what seemed to be a very white office room with a multicolored prize wheel that was being displayed on the TV that was mounted to the wall across the room. And in front of that TV was a very handsome young man with blonde hair and blue eyes smiling at me and seated behind a pure white desk. I wouldn't call him handsome in a supermodel way though. He seemed to be handsome in the sense that he would represent what many people would deem ideal. In other words, he was so handsome it seemed too perfect...
Either I was on some kind of crazy drug I'm unaware of and I'm just having a very lucid dream or I'm dead and have gone to heaven.
Am I with an honest-to-God angel right now?
"Nope, can't say that I'm quite an angel, buddy. Nor is this a lucid dream, but I do appreciate the compliment though. " The 'quite-not-an-angel' said with a small laugh escaping his lips.
What? Is he reading my mind or anything? I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything out loud...actually I don't even think I can talk right now. But I was more focused on what he said. He's not an angel but this isn't a dream though...but he's not denying that I'm dead? Ah crap.
"I mean, things could be worse for you. Now to give you some context to your questions and all that, I wouldn't say I'm 'reading your mind' so to speak. There isn't a mirror but you're currently just a ball of light, a soul if you really wanna get into the nitty gritty of it all so your thoughts are sort of everywhere right now for me to hear, some of which I'll either respond or just ignore out of courtesy. And yeah, you are dead pal. Now let's see..."
Before I could even have a chance to speak, the 'not-an-angel' reached into some drawers from within his desk and then pulled out a folder before opening it and clearing his throat. Is he reviewing some sort of file?
"Michael Graham, welcome to the Realm of the Dead. My name is Helel-"
What? Is he reading a script in a formal manner all of a sudden? And Helel? As in the other name for the devil or something? What the he-
"While I'm impressed that you know the name Helel and what it is associated with, please don't ask why I actually have it okay?" Helel interrupted my thoughts with the apparently-not-the-Devil looking at me with some annoyance on his face, and even if I was a ball of light like he said, I could feel myself going red with embarrassment.
Sorry.
"It's fine, it's natural to have that reaction. Now...ahem...my name is Helel, one of the many numerous overseers responsible for the souls that arrive at the Realm of the Dead. As the name implied, you have passed on from the mortal plane, but this does not mean that your life has truly come to an end. Depending on the actions you have committed and karma you have accumulated in life, there are different paths that your soul may take in the afterlife. Due to your Christianity-influenced background, you have three possible routes that your soul may take.
My job today is to review your life story and all you have done then discuss with you the path you would like to take in the afterworld, after which you come to a decision and I help facilitate the move to your next destination. Any decision you make will be final and I, as your representative overseer, will not be held liable for any dissatisfaction that you have from said decision. Now, do you have any questions you would like to ask me?"
And with that, he finished his…script? And he looked at me with a smile.
Is...he new on the job or something?
"Yup sure am! You're actually the first soul that I'm working with."
Ah...well, I guess I don't have any questions? Can we go ahead and start?
"Alright sounds good then. So to ignore all the small stuff and by skipping all the details, overall you have access to only two of the three routes, since I doubt you want to go to Hell."
Fair. Go on.
"Will do! So Michael, from what I see here, you had a really good thing going on for you in life. Honor student in high school, community service, volunteering, good grades in undergrad college, you were a grad student, yada yada yada...ouch...says you died in a car accident, my condolences man. And before you say anything, we sealed the memories of your life and death so that you can remain calm in the face of everything that you're hearing. You'd be surprised about how many souls my senpai had to deal with who were panicking about their deaths and were wanting to go back cuz they have a lot they wanted to do and all that jazz."
Okay...I guess that's also fair. That also explains why I can't recall anything, even my name until you said it earlier. And senpai? Isn't that like a Japanese and anime thing?
"Yep. While we sealed your memories, you still have your knowledge about stuff and perhaps your personal thoughts and opinions on them, so you can probably guess that you watched a lot of anime. Good choices as well, I gotta say a lot of them have interesting takes on what the afterlife is like. Anyway we're getting off track. So to nail down brass tacks, you have two routes, since, like I had said, I doubt you wanna go to Hell. So you can either go on the Heaven, which will be molded by whatever your soul would view as an ideal personal heaven, which you may not even know what it is at this moment, or you can choose Reincarnation to another world, a trope I'm sure you're aware of, multiverse being real and all that mess.
Of course this is a toss-up since the world you'll be sent to is one of the many worlds you have witnessed in life, like Harry Potter, MCU, or some anime world, and many souls who chose this option have also perished due to a particular world's dangers and have gone to that world's respective afterlife, whether for good and bad. I swear, who cheers about going to a world they like just for a harem and then gets cut down a week in by flirting with one of those girls? Stupid."
I don't think I was supposed to hear that, so I just kept 'silent'.
"As for how the world is chosen, it'll be through the wheel behind me on the TV."
Ah...that makes a bit more sense. But why are they not labeled, even if there are a large variety of colors?
"They are, but only I can see them. Anyway, I do wanna hurry this up since we're almost done, so what do you want to do Michael?"
Great question. What do I want to do? Do I want to go to Heaven or do I want to choose Reincarnation? I can't help but wonder what my personal ideal Heaven would be like, but at the same time, I do want to give living my life in a fictional world a shot. Although, I have to admit that I'm curious as to what it would be like to live in a fictional world, but like Helel had said, it's a toss up since I can be tossed into a dangerous world and die again.
You know what? I may as well take that chance.
Hey Helel, let's go for Reincarnation.
"Excellent, my first soul is picking Reincarnation! Let's spin that wheel!"
Oh right, he's new on the job.
And as if following his command, the wheel on the TV began to spin and then kept spinning for a few more seconds before slowing down and then landing on a white and red striped slice on the wheel.
"And it looks like you have landed on the world of the anime Danmachi, home to the descended pagan gods, adventurers with Falna, and an assortment of different races, and beautiful women."
You know what? I can live with that even if my knowledge of Danmachi isn't all that great, though I'm not drawing attention to the fact that he called out the fact that they were pagan deities. I just need to play my cards right and not get caught in the wrong crowd. Otherwise my life might just go straight to hell...er...
"Yeah, I get what you were going for, no worries and I'm just calling it as it is, they are technically pagans by early Christian norms. And as a bonus-"
Bonus?
"Since you're my first soul I'm working with, I'll pull some strings with the Fates for you to give you a small helping hand. Now let's see..."
The wheel spun again for about ten more seconds before slowing down and coming to a halt on a yellow color.
"Wow, this is a very interesting bonus! Schrift N and Vollständig of Bleach's Sternritter Robert Accutrone! Won't this be an interesting development."
Wait…Robert Accutrone? The man who shot out Shunsui Kyōraku's right eye and he never even had his Schrift N revealed at all even when he died? That's bullshit! I don't even know what it even does!
"Hey man, don't blame me, blame the wheel and your own knowledge. Your knowledge of his unknown Schrift was what caused you to get it in the first place, so all you can really do now is just suck it up. At least, I provided you with something potentially useful for you in the future." Helel said to me with a shrug, and I can't help but deny the fact that it's true. As far as I know, the Schrift of the Sternritter were all useful in one way or another, so I'm sure Schrift N will be useful too.
Wait! If I got a Sternritter Schrift, does that mean that I have Quincy abilities?
"Well, yeah, of course. It's a Quincy Schrift, of course you have Quincy abilities. That said, the Heilig Bogen that you form is up to you though. Your abilities aren't limited to what Robert could possibly do, you only just have his Schrift."
Yes! Let's go!
I am none Soul Reaper! I am Quincy! Quincy Michael Graham! And Quincies are not just supposedly arrows!*
Anyway, yes! I'll survive!
"While I'm glad that you're seemingly excited about your new gift, are you done with your hype moment?"
Oh right, he can hear my thoughts. Sorry, and yeah, I'm done.
"No worries. Well anyway, onto the world of Danmachi! Keep in mind that you will lose your memory of your name upon reincarnation and a new name will be assigned to you at any point you get one of these Falna, okay? Also, don't die too soon after you've gotten such a great gift! Bye-bye!~"
Wait, what?
And with the pull of a lever next to him- a lever that I could swear was not there- I saw the floor below me opening up before I fell in and could only watch as the overseer peered down the hole and waved down to me with a grin on his face.
"I bless you with a happy life, courtesy of the Helel himself! Or rather should I say, Lucifer himself! Oh, and don't worry about your Quincy equipment, I'll be sure that you have something sent your way!"
He is the Devil?! And what?!
You son of a bitch!
[3rd POV - The Devil]
And with that the overseer pulled the lever the opposite direction and watched as the hole resealed itself.
"Well what do you know, this actually isn't too bad!" He exclaimed to himself and whistled 'Highway to Hell' as he returned to his desk. Maybe he shouldn't have used Helel as his name for this job. First soul to come in and the boy already recognized that name. No, it would not do if future souls were to find out that they had the Devil himself as one of their overseers, it would raise all kinds of hell, pun intended. Sorry that the man who was actually Satan got bored in Hell and wanted to come upstairs a bit to do something more routine like paperwork and all that instead of being stuck in that hole the whole time for a change. Maybe he should go for a different name...Rob? Yeah Rob sounds good. Maybe in all caps, like ROB. Yeah that works.
"Well good luck to Michael or whatever his name will be now, I'm sure that the kid will be fine. I mean, he got me as his overseer, the freaking Devil! Like, I sent him off and blessed him and everything! Talk about the Devil's Luck right? Ah...well, let's greet the next guest. Too bad they won't have such good luck as the first one."
Note*: If you understand this reference, you're my friend.
AN: Anyway, hello potential reader, as the title of this story implies, our main character here is someone who has reincarnated into the world of DanMachi as a Quincy from the anime Bleach, courtesy of the Devil. I ask that while you shouldn't expect this to be something amazing, I hope that you all will like it at the very least. Future chapters will be ~4k to 5k words as this is just a the prologue.